Google reveals sharp rise in requests for removal of political content

Political content in the news is bad, say the people in government who have had their names associated with this style of reporting the news, and they want it ended, which is revealed by a large increase in requests for removal by the affected in Google releases.

Google reports that 3,840 requests for release were received during the period January to June, a 68 percent increase for the same stretch of time on 2012.

The reasons for the jump in requests are legend, but mostly public officials increasingly detest releasing any knowledge to the man-on-the-street of the why and specifically by whom unpopular decisions are made.

Those officials just don’t want to have to take responsibilty for bad news when, after all, good news will get them elected or reappointed, which ever that the case may be.

Thus, we often find statements like, “A decision was made by an unnamed White House official”. It could be the president who made that call! No one knows!

With the world in schambles, it’s important to watch out for negative news and let it flow, just make sure it is not tied to name, someone who can be fingered. Or at least some people figure that the way!

Dominic Rushe of the Guardian has the story.
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Google revealed a sharp rise in requests from governments asking for political content to be removed from the web in its latest transparency report published on Thursday.

From January to June the search giant received 3,846 government requests to remove content from its services – a 68% increase over the second half of 2012.

“Over the past four years, one worrying trend has remained consistent: governments continue to ask us to remove political content. Judges have asked us to remove information that’s critical of them, police departments want us to take down videos or blogs that shine a light on their conduct, and local institutions like town councils don’t want people to be able to find information about their decision-making processes,” Susan Infantino, legal director, said in a blogpost.

“These officials often cite defamation, privacy and even copyright laws in attempts to remove political speech from our services. In this particular reporting period, we received 93 requests to take down government criticism and removed content in response to less than one third of them. Four of the requests were submitted as copyright claims,” she said.

Google reported a large increase in requests from Turkey where it received 1,673 requests from the authorities to remove content, nearly a ten-fold increase over the second half of last year. About two-thirds of the total requests – 1,126 – called for the removal of content related to alleged violations of internet law 5651, which censors online speech.

In Russia Google reported a rise in requests after the introduction of a blacklist law last year. The law aimed to crackdown on criminal websites, paedophilia and suicide promotion. But critics charge it has been used to censor political speech online. Google received 257 removal requests during this reporting period, more than double the total number of requests it received in 2012.

In the US Google and its peers are fighting to be allowed to disclose how often they receive legal demands for information from the National Security Agency (NSA). Those requests are made through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) court and the companies are legally barred from disclosing them.

“While the information we present in our transparency report is certainly not a comprehensive view of censorship online, it does demonstrate a worrying upward trend in the number of government requests, and underscores the importance of transparency around the processes governing such requests. As we continue to add data, we hope it will become increasingly useful and informative in policy debates and decisions around the world,” said Infantino, the legal director.

From January to June 2013, the following countries made the most requests to remove content:

Turkey (1,673 requests for 12,162 items)

United States (545 requests for 3,887 items)

Brazil (321 requests for 1,635 items)

Russia (257 requests for 277 items)

India (163 requests for 714 items)

In the US Google received 545 requests for the removal of 3,887 items. Among those requests was one from a local law enforcement official to remove a search result linking to a news article about his record as an officer. Google did not remove the search result.

In the UK Google received 117 requests for 556 items to be removed. One request came from a law firm representing a former member of parliament to remove a preview from Google Books that allegedly defamed the MP by suggesting he was engaged in illegal activity. The preview was removed. Another came from a local government council to remove a blogpost that allegedly defamed the council. Google did not remove the blogpost.

See Senator Cruz’ paper, above. This paper first appeared in Infowars.com on October 20, 2012. It says for following. Last Wednesday, 24-year-old Portland self-described anarchist and political activist Leah-Lynn Plante was released from prison after serving a week of her 18-month sentence for refusing to testify against others in front of a secret federal grand jury; however, her two roommates remain incarcerated.

Plante and her house mates were served summons via a “paramilitary” FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force raid allegedly seeking to identify protesters who may have been involved in the havoc wreaked earlier this year during the May Day riots in Seattle.

See Senator Cruz’ paper, above. This paper first appeared August 29, 2012 in Inforwars.com. It concerns a former U.S. Marine, Brandon Raub, who tells John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute that was kidnapped from his home by police, FBI and Secret Service agents and forcibly incarcerated in a psychiatric ward by authorities in Virginia in response to Facebook posts which the FBI deemed “terrorist” in nature.

Raub was released after a week when a judge concluded that the original petition ordering him to be detained contained no information whatsoever on the reasons behind Raub’s incarceration.

Raub explained that one of his main concerns in being publicly vocal about his concerns with the activity of the U.S. government was executive orders that allow the state to seize dictatorial power in a time of crisis, including the seizure of private property, communications and the institution of forced labor camps.

Raub explains how he set up a Facebook group with his brother and sister which was based on the Illuminati card game, which contextualizes some of the comments that the FBI dubiously claimed were “terrorist” in nature, including a reference to Raub ‘sharpening his axe’.